One Year Later, Gulf Oil Spill Continues to Impede Gulf Progress

Starting today, all of the commercial and recreational fisheries in federal waters that had been closed due to the oil spill have been reopened. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that all seafood samples from reopened waters have passed sensory testing for contamination with oil and dispersant, according to the FDA , and are safe for consumption.

Yet, independent toxicologists and scientists mentioned in the NAACP report do not believe that the sensory tests used by the FDA and the NOAA were thorough enough to detect oil compounds that can build up in the flesh of marine animals and seafood. Consumption of large fin fish like tuna and mackerel from the Gulf could be a health hazard in the future as toxins and metals accumulate in fish tissues, reports a study done by public health experts in an August 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In addition, the NAACP reported that subsistence farmers and their families are more vulnerable to Gulf oil toxins because they consume fish more frequently than what was accounted for by the FDA when determining the risk assessment of the seafood.